1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to compositions and methods for inhibiting the formation, deposition and adherence of calcium carbonate (CaCO.sub.3) scale deposits, on various metallic, activated carbon and other surfaces of aqueous systems involved in heap and vat leaching; carbon-in-pulp, carbon-in-leach, and other activated carbon leaching and adsorption recovery systems; and various other mill water circuits used to carry out the basic cyanidation process for extracting precious metals, especially gold and silver, from crude ores, especially low grade ores containing them, where the cyanidation process is combined with the use of activated carbon, utilized in various ways, to recover the precious metals from large volumes of low-grade pregnant solutions containing water soluble cyanide salts of the precious metals created by the leaching step of the cyanidation process.
The cyanidation process for extracting precious metals from their ores, especially gold and silver, is well known in the art; and it is typically employed where the gold and silver particles in an ore deposit are too fine-grained or too low-grade to be concentrated by gravity and/or flotation techniques. The cyanidation process is extensively used because of its economy and technological simplicity.